The present invention relates to products made of polybutene-1. It is especially applicable to the production of extruded pipe using polybutene-1. Such pipe is made by melting the polybutene-1 and forcing it through an extruder die having approximately the dimensions desired for the pipe.
After extrusion, the polybutene-1 pipe must be allowed to cure for about a week. As the polybutene comes out of the extruder, it first begins forming one crystalline structure, which is then transformed over a period of about a week to a final crystalline structure.
In addition to the undesirable time required to allow such curing, the use of polybutene-1 in making pipe includes an additional drawback in that the dimensions of the pipe change as it undergoes its crystal transformation. Since one must wait a week to determine the final shape, die design is difficult. Manufacturing polybutene-1 pipe to critical dimensions is obviously a problem.